Sigmiysd b egg-mans



(No-Model.)

S. BERGMANN.

SOCKET FOR ELECTRIC LAMPS.

Patented May 2,1882.

INVENTOR WITNESSES d fWu/MD BY ATTORNEY.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

SIGMUND BERGMANN, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

SOCKET FOR ELECTRIC LAMPS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 257,277, dated May 2, 1882.

(No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, SIGMUND BERGMANN, of the city, county, and State of New York, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Electric Sockets, of which the following is a specification.

The object I have in view is to produce a socket for ineandescing electric lamps which will have the electric terminals or contacts so constructed and arranged that terminals can be used on the base of the lamps, which, from their position, will subject the base to com.- pression when it is screwed into the socket, instead of to tension, thus permitting the use of a molded base without danger of cracking between the terminals. The invention is applicable to sockets of all kinds used in systems of electric lighting, whether for lamps or for simple plugs, for connections or for safetycatch plugs, such as are used in the cutouts or blocks for branching circuits.

The invention consists mainly in providing a socket with terminals or contacts, one of which is a horizontal metal ring located on its side walls, which ring is screw-threaded or otherwise formed to engage an oppositelyconstructed ring on the base or plug, and the other of which is a plate, spring, or equivalent device, located in the bottom of the socket, the base or plug having a metal tip, which is forced down on this plate by the engagement of the rings; and, further, in peculiar details of construction, all as more fully hereinafter explained, and pointed out by the claims.

In the accompanying drawings, forming a part hereof, Figure l is a vertical section of a lamp-socket embodying my invention; Fig. 2, a perspective view and partial section of the contacts and insulatingwasher; Fig. 3, a separate bottom view of theinsulating'washer Fig. 4, a top view of a cut-out with plug removed, embodying my invention; and Fig. 5, a vertical section of the cut-out and the safety-catch plug.

Like letters denote corresponding parts in all five figures.

A is a socket formed of insulating material, preferablywood, and receiving a broad metal ring, D, which has screw-threaded sides, and has its lower edge, a, turned inwardly, forming a flange which is provided with two rounded notches, b, at opposite points. This peculiarlyconstructed ring is placed in the insulatingsocket and rests on the bottom of the same. A washer, G, stamped or cut from some insulating material, preferably vulcanized fiber, is placed in the ring B and rests on the flange a, preferably filling the bottom of the ring. This washer has holes 0 bored through it, which are set over the notches b, and around one of these holes 0 the washer is punched down to form a projection, d, which enters one of the notches b and determines the position of the washer in the ring.

On the insulating-washer G is set a metal plate, D, which is of suitable shape, it being small enough to clear the ring. Two woodscrews, 0, pass through the plate D, the insulating-washer U, and into the wood of the socket, securing all the parts together and in properposition. Thesescrewsenterthenotches b, but the washer is so accurately placed that they do not touch the flange a or in any other way make electrical connection between the plate D and ring B. FromB and D connections are made by wires 1 2. In Fig. '1 these parts are shown as applied to a lamp-socket in which the connections are exactly the same as described in Patent No. 251,596, granted December 27th, 1881, to E. H. Johnson. The socket is shown in its simplest form, without safety-catch or circuit-controller; but it may have either or both, as described in said patent of Johnson.

In Figs. 4 and 5 the-invention is shown as applied to a cut-out or block for branching circuits.

E is the safety-catch plug, having metal screw-ring F and metal tip Gr connected by safety-catch wire H. The grooves I of the block are made to converge or approach each other at the edges of the block, so as to give room for the socket in the center and to bring the wires at the edges of the block the proper distances apart for entering the coverin g-moldings.

hat I claim is- 1. An electric socket having two terminals or contacts composed, one of a plate located in the bottom of the socket against which a terminal on-the end of the entering base or plug impinges, and the other of a horizontal screw-ring or similar device located between base or plug, and serving to compress the base or ping between the terminals carried by it, substantially as set forth.

3. In an electric socket, the combination of the flanged metal ring, the insulating-washer, and the metal plate secured within the socket, substantially as set forth.

This specification signed and witnessed this 20th day of February, 1882.

SIGMUND BERGMANN.

the bottom plate and the month of the socket, with which ring or device engages a similar ring or device on the entering base or plug, so as to force the end terminal of the base or plug upon the bottom plate of the socket and com- 1 press such base or plug between its terminals, substantially as set forth.

2. In an electric socket, the combination, with the body ofinsulating material, of a plate in the bottom of the socket, and a horizontal screw-ring located between the bottom plate and the mouth of the socket, said plate and ring engaging opposite parts on an entering Witnesses:

WM. H. .MEADOWOROFT, H. W. SEELY. 

